Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank both our witnesses for being here, for your great advice and testimony today and for your service to Canada.
It's a very interesting conversation that we've had so far about the threat environment that we're in. I think this is critical to determining the type of navy that we need. We fully appreciate the shortfalls that we have right now in the Royal Canadian Navy. How do both of you feel about the navies of our NATO allies? I know they've gone through difficulties similar to those Canada faces and are now trying to reposition themselves with the growing threat from Russia and China. I would ask both of you if you could speak to that.
As well, you raised the interesting idea that we need to have that anti-missile air protection that the destroyer capability brings. It was interesting to see the Houthi firing upon U.S. warships, and the ability of the U.S. to bring down those missiles before they got to U.S. positions. If you could also speak to the fact that it's not just state actors we have to be concerned about now, it's also the non-state actors.
I'll start off with Professor Lerhe and then Professor Hansen could add on.